Mahisasan-Shahbajpur Rail Route
India moves for revival
New Delhi has sent a proposal to Dhaka for reviving the defunct railway transit facility between India and Bangladesh through Mahisasan point in Karimganj district of Assam, reports The Times of India.
This has been mooted when work for setting up the 13km railway track is about to be over soon to establish a railway link between Agartala in Tripura and Akhaura in Bangladesh.
Mahisasan is a border railway station. The Bangladesh side is Shahbajpur (also known as Latu) in Sylhet.
The Mahisasan-Shahbajpur route has not been operational since December, 1996 due to lack of traffic.
Lok Sabha member (Congress) from Karimganj segment Lalit Mohan Shuklabaidya said Union Minister for Railways Pawan Kumar Bansal, in reply to his letter, said New Delhi has sent a communication to Bangladesh to reopen the facility through Mahisasan. However, the reply is awaited.
"In September last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Dhaka took up the issue with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She agreed to reopen the railway link between Mahisasan in India and Khulna in Bangladesh," said Bansal in the letter.
"We are waiting for a positive action from Dhaka," added Bansal.
Sources said Mahisasan point also assumes importance in course of the proposed Trans-Asian Railway.
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